A US federal court has ordered the restoration of the $7 billion Solar for All program. US District Judge Mary S. McElroy ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not have the authority to terminate funding already awarded under the initiative. The program, created under the Biden administration, provides grants to states, tribal governments and other organizations to expand residential solar access in low-income and disadvantaged communities. A Biden-era program, the EPA had moved to it in 2025 under Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). It was expected to support over 4 GW of distributed solar deployment in 5 years. The EPA had selected 60 winners and committed the funds, before terminating it. The agency was later sued by over 20 US states (see US States Sue EPA Over Ending $7 Billion Solar For All). The EPA however, can appeal against the District Judge ruling.
Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group, the largest IKEA retailer, has commissioned 101 MW DC/74.9 MW AC Kingstree West Solar Park in the US. Located in Williamsburg County, South Carolina, the project is Ingka Investments’ first utility-scale solar park developed entirely in-house, from land ownership through construction and operation. The project comprises 178,000 solar modules and is expected to generate about 186 GWh of electricity annually. Ingka Investments said it fully funded the project, while Williamsburg County is expected to receive about $7.6 million in additional property tax revenue over the project’s lifetime. With Kingstree West entering operation, Ingka Investments now operates 27 solar parks across nine countries and six renewable energy assets in the US.
Chipmaker NVIDIA is set to invest an additional $1.5 billion in SB Energy, a SoftBank-backed US power and data center infrastructure company. According to SB Energy’s amended filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its initial public offering (IPO), NVIDIA plans to purchase Class N common stock through a private placement at the IPO price. This is in addition to its previous commitment to invest $1.5 billion in private placement. The investment would bring NVIDIA’s total commitment to SB Energy to $3 billion (see North America Solar PV News Snippets).
Apex Clean Energy has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Meta for its 144 MW Starling Solar project in Gonzales County, Texas. Under the agreement, Meta will receive the environmental attributes associated with the project’s electricity, including renewable energy credits. Starling Solar is expected to begin commercial operations in 2027 and will add new generation to the ERCOT grid. The project represents the seventh transaction between Apex and Meta, taking their combined portfolio to about 1.2 GW across Texas, Virginia, Illinois, Kansas and Iowa.
EQT-backed US distributed energy developer Madison Energy Infrastructure has launched a Community Infrastructure initiative to develop an additional 1 GW of distributed energy capacity across the country by 2028. Under this initiative, the company plans to mobilize up to $2 billion in capital to meet electricity demand from artificial intelligence (AI) and data center development. Madison expects its operating portfolio to exceed 1 GW later this year, while the new initiative targets another 1 GW by 2028.
Skyline Clean Energy Fund (SCEF), a Canadian private renewable infrastructure fund managed by Skyline, has acquired a portfolio of 3,291 solar assets totaling 76 MW DC in Ontario, Canada. SCEF says this transaction increases its installed solar capacity by 83%. The acquired portfolio includes commercial, industrial and residential rooftop and ground-mounted projects operating under long-term fixed-price Feed-in Tariff and microFIT contracts with the province. SCEF’s renewable energy portfolio now comprises 3,375 solar assets and two biogas facilities, totaling 171.68 MW DC.
